Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491km (4,655mi). It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and occupies 47.3 percent of the continent of South America. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, and is the subject of significant global interest and debate regarding deforestation and environmental protection.

Aquarela do Brasil

"Aquarela do Brasil" (Portuguese:[akwaˈɾɛlɐ du bɾaˈziw], Watercolor of Brazil), known in the English-speaking world simply as "Brazil", is one of the most famous Brazilian songs, written by Ary Barroso in 1939.

Background and composition

Ary Barroso wrote "Aquarela do Brasil" in early 1939, when he was prevented from leaving his home one rainy night due to a heavy storm. Its title, a reference to watercolor painting, is a clear reference to the rain. He also wrote "Três Lágrimas" (Three teardrops) on that same night, before the rain ended.

Describing the song in an interview to Marisa Lira, of the newspaper Diário de Notícias, Barroso said that he wanted to "free the samba away from the tragedies of life, of the sensual scenario already so explored". According to the composer, he "felt all the greatness, the value and the wealth of our land", reliving "the tradition of the national panels".

Initially, he wrote the first chords, which he defined as "vibrant", and a "plangent of emotions". The original beat "sang on [his] imagination, highlighting the sound of the rain, on syncope beats of fantastic tambourins". According to him, "the rest came naturally, music and lyrics at once". He declared to have felt like another person after writing the song.

Brazil (EP)

Brazil is the second EP by Dutch recording artist Loona. The album was recorded in 2014 and released in June 6, 2014 through Sony.

Background

Between 2009 and 2013, Loona released a string of summervibe tune singles, such as "Vamos a la playa", a Miranda cover, "Parapapapapa", "El Cucaracho, El Muchacho", a collaboration with Movetown, the Pigbag classic ""El Tiburón", "Policia", "Oh la la dance avec moi", the Los Diablos cover version "Rakatakata (Un Rayo de Sol)" or "Caliente". All these singles to be included on her long-awaited, sixth studio album with the working title Summer Dance, later retitled Rakatakata (Un Rayo de Sol). In 2014, when the WM came up, Loona released a 5-Track EP subtitled "Big 5" digitally through iTunes.

Content

The Brazil extended play contains five songs, two of them, which are previously unreleased new songs, and three remixes. The album starts with "Brazil", a summervibe tune song and cover of Francisco Alves's "Aquarela do Brasil", which served as the albums' first and only single. The following two songs are remixes of the previously released Loona cover versions, the Paradisio classic "Bailando", in a Brasilian language version titled "Dançando" and a Rio version of "Mamboleo", a cover version of Herbert Grönemeyer's song "Mambo", from her first two albums "Lunita" and "Entre dos aguas". The fourth track is the Barry Manilow cover version of Copacabana. The last song is the 2k14 remix of "Rio de Janeiro" with Loona as guest vocalist, a track previously released by only Flava & Stevenson on their album Quantum of Dance. "Brazil" received a music video and was released in 2014.